Dipping-machine.



Patented July 13, 1915.

lma n O3:

0- "0 l2! l2! 0 o 8 9 l0 A HBRHHHM K.LEw|s,

' Inventor I Attorngy TED STA FFTCE.

ABRAHAM K. LEWIS, OF MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN ROLLING MILL COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, AND MIDDLETOWN, OHIO.

DIPPING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1915.

Application filed October 10, 1914. Serial No. 866,180.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ABRAHAM K. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middletown, Butler county, Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dipping-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to improvements in machines designed to deal with large flat articles and dip them for a suflicient period in a liquid. While the improved machine may be of utility in the dipping of various articles there has been had in view particularly the passing of large sheets of metal through a solution preparatory to their being galvanized.

The invention will be readily understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine exemplifying my invention: Fig. 2 a plan of the machine: Fig. 8 a transverse section of the machine with four only of the gates shown: Fig. 4: an enlarged side elevation of one of the gates shown in conjimction with two of the spokes: and Fig. 5 a diagram in the form of a plan illustrating the relation of spokes having gates to spokes having no gates.

In the drawing :1, indicates a vat, which may well be of semi-circular cross-section and of suitable material, this vat being adapted to contain the liquid into which the articles are to be dipped: 2, the floor-work supporting the vat, the vat being illustrated as being sunken, to a great extent, into the floorwork: 3, a shaft disposed longitudinally over the vat and adapted to be turned continuously or intermittently by power: 4:, a series of hubs fast on the shaft: 5, spokes radiating from the hubs and having their heels secured in the hubs: 6, gates pivoted to the outer ends of some of the spokes and projecting in a circumferential direction to near the next spoke in circumferential order: 7, the pivots uniting the gates to their spokes: 8 (Fig. 5) one circumferential row of the spokes with their gates: 9, the next row of spokes with their gates: 10, the next row of spokes with their gates; and 11, stops carried by the heels of the gates and adapted to engage their spokes and limit the outward swinging of the gates.

It will be observed, from Fig. 3, that the spokes form between them a circumferential series of pockets adapted to receive a fiat article, such as a sheet of metal placed between them. It is designed that, looking at Fig. 3, the shaft with its spokes is to turn at a very low rate of speed, and thata sheet to be dipped be placed within each pocket at one side of the machine and then, as the shaft rotates, be carried slowly down through the liquid and, when the given sheet rises above the opposite edge of the vat, be withdrawn from its pocket.

If the ends of the spokes were unprovided with closures for the pockets it is manifest that while sheets might be readily inserted in the pockets descending into the liquid they would drop out of the pockets as the pockets moved downward. The gates 6, only four of which are shown in Fig. 3, are adapted, when in normal outward position, to close the pockets which they control, and to swing inwardly to permit the sheets to be passed radially into the pockets, the gates falling to outward closed position after the sheets are fully within their pockets. The consequence is that as a given pocket with its sheet moves downwardly into the vatthe sheet, tending to drop out of its pocket, is retained by the gates. The sheets, in being pushed radially into the pockets, displace the gates by swinging them inwardly. The sheets are removed endwise from the pockets as they rise in succession at the opposite side of the vat. The present invention does not concern itself with the means by which the sheets are fed into the pockets or the means by which they are withdrawn from the pockets, and this work may be done by hand or automatically.

Looking at Fig. 4:, illustrating a pair of circumferentially contiguous spokes, it will be apprehended that if the lower one of the spokes of the pair had a gate pivoted to it the heel of such gate would interfere with the inward movement of the gate on the upper spoke, and the gates should close the pockets closely in order to sustain thin sheets. I therefore, considering a given circumferential series of pockets, omit the gates from the alternate pockets, and so with each circumferential series of pockets, and I arrange the gates in staggered order as indicated in Fig. 5. By this means a sheet may be inserted in one of the longitudinal pockets formed by two longitudinal rows of spokes and will find gates at each alternate pocket in longitudinal series. The gates therefore are adequate for the support of the sheets, no matter how long the machine may be, and the gates cannot interfere with each other.

It is to be observed, in Figs. 1 and 2, that the outermost circumferential series of spokes are disposed at some distance from the inner ends of the vat. Therefore, when sheets are placed in the pockets one end of the sheets may project from the spokes a sufficient distance to be taken hold of for endwise removal from the pockets, without interfering with the ends of the sheets passing down into the vat.

I claim 1. A dipping machine comprising, a vat, a shaft mounted over the vat, spokes projecting radially from the shaft in circumferential and longitudinal order and forming radial pockets for the reception of sheets, and gates at the outer extremities of the pockets and adapted to normally close the pockets by outward movement and to move freely inward to open the pockets.

when sheets are entered, combined substantially as set forth.

2. A. dipping machine comprising, a vat, a shaft mounted over the vat, spokes projecting radially from the shaft in circumferential and longitudinal. order and forming radial pockets for the reception of sheets, and gates pivoted to the outer extremities of spokes and adapted to normally close the pockets by outward movement and to swing freely inward to open the pockets when sheets are entered, combined substantially as set forth.

3. A dipping machine comprising, a vat, a shaft mounted over the vat, spokes projecting radially from the shaft in circumferential and longitudinal order and forming radial pockets for the reception of sheets, gates at the outer extremities of the pockets and adapted to normally close the pockets by outward movement and to move freely inward to open the pockets when sheets are entered, said gates being omitted at circumferentially alternating pockets and provided at pockets longitudinally contiguous with such pockets as have no gates, combined substantially as set forth.

4. A dipping machine comprising, a vat, a shaft mounted over the vat, spokes projecting radially from the shaft in circumferential and longitudinal order and forming radial pockets for the reception of sheets, gates mounted on pivots at the ends of the spokes and adapted for inward swinging movement to open the pockets when sheets are entered, and stops to limit the outward movement of the gates, combined substantially as set forth.

5. A. dipping machine comprising, vat, a shaft mounted over the vat, spokes projecting radially from the shaft in circumferential and longitudinal order and forming radial pockets for the reception of sheets, and gates at the outer extremities of the pockets adapted to normally close the pockets by outward movement and to move freely inward to open the pockets when sheets are entered, one of the endrnost cir cumferential series of spokes being disposed at some distance inwardly from the end of the vat, combined substantially as set forth.

ABRAHAM K. LEl VIS.

itnesses C. WV. DAVIS,

B. DIMMICK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0. 

